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THANKS FOR VISITING!!
Youth Cents began in the classroom in Bryant High School in Bryant,
Arkansas.
We started a conversation one day on why schools don’t teach about
business and economics related topics. I mentioned that they did in the
business department. I was told by the students that in fact there were
classes offered in accounting and business law, but they did nothing to
teach about investing and how money really works.
I told the class that if we got done early, we would talk about it. The class
rushed to complete their assignments and we began talking about
investing. I realized at that time how little was taught about this topic. I did
not know that so few students knew what real estate was and how an IRA
works. Since this was a math class, I decided to incorporate these concepts
into the lessons for the remainder of the semester.
Money became the topic of conversation and my students all sat up,
listened and asked questions. They learned about money, credit, investing,
economics and their individual places in the economic world.
I began to realize that there were more teens out there who had a similar
thirst for this knowledge. I tried to figure out how to reach as many of them as possible.
First I went to the school newspaper to find that their columns were taken and there was
no room left for an editorial. I decided then to go to a public newspaper and pitch the idea.
I was turned down by many, but finally the Benton Courier agreed to run the column.
Perseverance does pay off!
The only problem was I could not come up with a name for the column. My editor, Mike,
was asking me what to call it and I had no answer. I tried a variety of possibilities, but none
seemed quite right. After brainstorming for quite some time, my daughter, Aliyah, came
up with the name Youth Cents. As soon as I heard it, I knew it was meant to be.
I have been writing the Youth Cents column now for a year and have since
added a radio show, also called “Youth Cents” to the repertoire. The radio
show can be heard once weekly on Friday mornings at roughly 7:45 on KEWI
radio, 690 am.
Because of the column in the paper, I was asked, by the senior advisor at
Bryant High School to give a speech on credit; how to use it properly and
what can happen if it isn’t used wisely.
This has been by far the most exhilarating experience of my life. What
started out as a side discussion in the classroom soon became a full time
passion.
Explore the Youth Cents website and read the past columns to catch up on
those you might have missed. Email any questions to dave@youthcents.com.
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